EM1 continous AF and tracking

Andrew Ellis wrote:

Hi all, quick question please.

I've never used the EM1 before for anything other than single point AF. But we have just bought a new puppy to fill the hole in our lives left by the passing of our beloved cocker spaniel "Jake" a few weeks ago, and I want to document "Charlie's" life in photos and video.

With the advent of the Olympus Firmware V3 (which I have), one of the improvements was CAF and tracking, however there were also mixed comments about needed to have the correct frame rates (Continuous high vs medium), and Tracking vs non tracking etc. and it all got a bit confusing.

The question is then basically for an unpredictable Puppy, what's the best camera settings for CAF modes, drive modes, tracking etc. from all you experts that have already figured this out ?

Whilst I know that the Olympus will not be as good as the best DSLR set ups, if I can get a 50% keeper rate, I'd be happy with that. I will be mainly using either the 12-40 F2.8 Pro or the 40-150 F2.8 Pro.

Thanks.

Okay, I'll jump in with some pics...this is Grace, my friend's 2yo Irish Terrier out for a (very fast!) run on Adelaide's West Beach. Not my usual subject matter (dinghy sailing and soccer are), but I thought I'd give the E-M1 and 12-40/CAF/10fps/aperture-priority/9 focus points a try. I reckon it did pretty well; unfortunately these had to be grabbed from my Faceb**k page so they're probably compressed/full of artefacts etc. but I hope you get the idea. C&C welcome.

I've never used any dSLR system other than Oly over the years, and my keeper rate from all sorts of action is upwards of 80%: my E-5 & ZD35-100/f2 or ZD150/f2 were so sharp they could make my eyes bleed. Unfortunately they're relegated to backups these days due to size and weight. The E-M1 & 12-40/f2.8 and 40-150/f2.8 are not bad substitutes...you just have to work to the strengths of your gear.

Cheers,

Rob